Work Tables & Tischmatten

Dieter Roth, Björn Roth: Work Tables and Tischmatten is a 2010 exhibition catalogue, published by Yale University Press, pairing two related bodies of work: the accumulated "work tables" Dieter Roth built up over decades in his studios, and his Tischmatten, the paper placemats he drew, wrote and spilled on at mealtimes and kept as finished pieces.

Edited by Barry Rosen with an essay by the artist Andrea Büttner, the hardcover volume reproduces 114 illustrations in color and black-and-white documenting the work tables Roth assembled with his son Björn, cluttered surfaces built from tools, food residue, drawings and objects left where they accumulated during use, alongside the more intimate, diaristic Tischmatten.

Dieter Roth (1930-1998) was a Swiss artist working across artist's books, prints, sculpture and installation, known for incorporating found and perishable materials, including rotting food, into his work. From the 1980s on he increasingly worked in collaboration with his son Björn Roth, who continued to develop and exhibit the work tables after Dieter Roth's death.